Anglo adopts a new look

Anglo American has never been conventional. As a South African mining giant it opposed apartheid when it was unfashionable to do so, but unlike Barclays and others who fled the increasingly repressive nationalist regime, it stayed behind.

Ironically, it was only after apartheid fell apart and the black rule it encouraged came about that it reshaped its complex share structure and moved its main listing to London.

Now it is surprising us again. Instead of coming up with the hard bitten, testosterone charged male executive expected of mining groups it has chosen to add to the exclusive club of Footsie women.

Cynthia Carroll, formerly of Alcan, joins other powerful Americans Marjorie Scardino of Pearson and Angela Ahrendts of Burberry among Britain's financial elite. It is a good club to be part of since women seem to have a longer shelf life as Footsie bosses, than many of their male counterparts.

It is a fascinating moment to take the helm at Anglo American. The whole extraction sector has been transformed in the last couple of years as a result of the huge demand for minerals and natural resources from the Far East.

The speed at which new giants like BHP Billiton have emerged, as the mining sector seeks economies of scale, have made the medium sized players like Anglo American and Rio Tinto almost permanent takeover or merger candidates.

In recent times the affairs of Anglo American and the founding Oppenheimer family have been disentangled. The grandson of the founder Nicky Oppenheimer, one of the few people with the right to land his helicopter in the heart of the City, still sits on the Anglo board and his family hold 3% of the shares.

But the main connection to the mother ship is through joint ownership of the diamond monopoly De Beers. It is nevertheless inconceivable that a major appointment, like that of Carroll, or a big transaction would take place without the founding dynasty being consulted.

The London stock market gave Carroll a grudging welcome, marking down the shares.

But if she continues to simplify the conglomerate structure and allows Anglo to join in the merger madness sweeping the sector, it may not be long before the same chauvinists are toasting her health.

Whitbread revived

Another unfashionable company is the lodging and leisure group Whitbread. But under the stewardship of the current chief executive Alan Parker it is shedding its dull, unimaginative image.

Foremost in the mind of shareholders is the cash delivery in Parker's time at the helm with £1.2bn returned to investors since May 2005 through a series of divestments from Pizza Hut to pubs. Now the dated American style fast food joint TGI Friday is on the sales block.

Can Parker grow what is left? Most promising is its Premier Travel Inns which added 1,312 new rooms in the first half year and has set itself a goal of controlling 45,000 rooms against the current 31,000. It is also embarking on an ambitious programme to revitalise its Beefeater and Brewers Fayre outlets.

It is keeping faith with health clubs through its ownership of David Lloyd. Finally, it is taking Costa Coffee - which still sweetly roasts its beans beneath of the arches of London's Waterloo station - into Tesco country in Eastern Europe.

Whitbread shares have responded well to both sales performance and cash returns, and the company has taken the opportunity to chuck a further £50m into the pension fund.

The next challenge is to reorganise its balance sheet so that it has the capacity to drive expansion on four different fronts.

Indian summer

Like many firms which have been through the private equity wringer Debenhams is good at growing margins and profits. So it is not surprising that chief executive Rob Templeman likes to focus on Debenhams' ambitious store opening plans and profits rather than like-for-like sales.

Unfortunately, there are limits to this strategy. Constantly trimming costs leads to shabby stores, strained customer service and consumer alienation. Moreover, the days of squeezing suppliers until the pips squeak are coming to an end with the surge in raw material and energy prices.

The metric which really counts is underlying sales which ought to demonstrate why customers are flocking to Debenhams stores, rather than rivals like Marks & Spencer or John Lewis. Here the numbers are really disappointing at minus 4.2% over the last seven weeks. Blame for this is accorded to the 'unseasonably warm weather' which has left overcoats and outer garments stacked high on the racks. Excuses, excuses.